Cardiff Nigerian Teen Sold Child Abuse Videos for £5,000

A 19-year-old student from Cardiff who directed young children to perform sexual acts during video calls, recorded the abuse and sold the material to other offenders has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Gift Ayoola, of Pendyris Street in Riverside, targeted children as young as two. He operated within online networks where child sexual abuse material was shared and traded. Cardiff Crown Court heard on Wednesday that he received payments for the images and videos, including a single £5,000 sum from one buyer.

Prosecutor John Ryan told the court that Ayoola contacted a 12-year-old girl online and instructed her to expose intimate parts of her body while telling her to watch him masturbate.

In a separate series of calls he communicated with a girl aged between 11 and 13 and a much younger child aged between two and four. He gave the older girl explicit directions to carry out sexual acts on herself and involving the younger child, which he recorded.

Police first arrested Ayoola at his home in January 2025 and seized electronic devices. Examination revealed hundreds of illegal images: 455 in Category A (the most serious), including four obtained from his own recordings of children; 401 in Category B; and 389 in Category C. Officers also found extreme pornography involving bestiality.

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Investigators established that Ayoola took part in group chats on Telegram and WhatsApp in which child sexual abuse images were circulated. Other offenders contacted him seeking material to purchase. Prosecutors said 877 items featured in such requests, with payments processed through PayPal. Ayoola admitted receiving the £5,000 payment.

When questioned, he claimed the images he had been given showed people aged 16 to 18 and said he shared material under pressure and for money.

He was arrested again on 5 March 2026 after further child sexual abuse material was found in his possession, including images of children as young as four. This batch comprised 14 Category A, 15 Category B and 22 Category C images.

Ayoola pleaded guilty to making and distributing indecent images of children, possessing extreme pornography, and causing or inciting children to engage in sexual activity. The court was told he was of previous good character. In mitigation, his barrister said he was still young at the time of the offences, had lost his mother at the age of six, had moved to the UK from his home country, and was remorseful.

Judge Vanessa Francis rejected the defence suggestion that the offending was not sexually motivated or that Ayoola was not attracted to children. She told him: “The children you exploited were much younger than you, some were very young indeed. These children required protection and you were encouraging them to pose for extremely harmful material. This was a grievous form of sexual abuse. These were not simply images, they were children whose trust and vulnerability were exploited in order to make sexual material.”

Ayoola was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. He must comply with sex offender notification requirements indefinitely and is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.